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CHAPTER:

POPULATION

Distribution, Density, Growth and Composition 1. India’s total population was 1,028 million (2001).

2. India’s population is larger than the total population of North America, South America and Australia put together. 3. Uttar Pradesh has the highest total population. 4. Moderate population in Rajasthan is due to development of irrigation. 5. Moderate population in Jharkhand is due to availability of mineral and energy resources. 6. Moderate population in Peninsular states is due to and development of transport network. 7. The density of population in India is 313 persons per sq km. 8. India ranks 3rd among the most densely populated countries of Asia after Bangladesh (849 persons) and Japan (334 persons). 9. The annual growth rate of India’s population is 2.4 per cent. 10. The country’s population will double itself in another 36 years. 11. Kerala registered the lowest growth rate (9.4) in India. 12. The share of adolescents (age group of 10-19 years) is about 22 per cent. Male adolescents 53 per cent and female adolescents 47 per cent. 13. India has 638,588 villages according to the Census 2001 out of which (93 per cent) are inhabited villages. 14. About 27.8 per cent of total population of India lives in urban areas and 72.2 per cent lives in villages. 15. Hindi is spoken largest in India (40.42% people speak Hindi). 16. The smallest language groups are Kashmiri and Sanskrit speakers (0.01 per cent each). 17. Goa has low proportion of working population whereas Mizoram has large proportion of working population. Short Answer Questions: Q.1 Ans.

What do you mean by Density of population? It is defined as the number of persons per unit area. It helps in getting a better understanding of the spatial distribution of population in relation to land.

Q.2 Ans.

What do you mean by physiological or agricultural densities? It is expressed as number of persons per cultivable land. It helps in getting better understanding of pressure of population on total cultivable land.

Q.3 Ans.

Define the term Growth of population. Growth of population is the change in the number of people living in a particular area between two points of time. Its rate is expressed in percentage. It can be + ve or – ve.

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Q.4 Ans.

What are the two components of Population growth? It has two components namely; a. Natural growth: it occurs due to change in birth and death rates. b. Induced Growth: it is occurs due to change in immigration and emigration.

Q.5 Ans.

Mention some of the challenges for the adolescents in our country. Some are: lower age at marriage, illiteracy – particularly female illiteracy, school dropouts, low intake of nutrients, high rate of maternal mortality of adolescent mothers, high rates of HIV/AIDS infections, physical and mental disability or retardedness, drug abuse and alcoholism, Juvenile delinquency and commit of crimes.

Q.6 Ans.

Define the term Population composition. Population composition is a distinct field of study within population geography. It analyses age and sex, place of residence, ethnic characteristics, tribes, language, religion, marital status, literacy and education, occupational characteristics of population.

Q.7

Give one reason for the increase in Urban population in all the states and Union Territories of India. It is due to increase economic development and improvement in health and hygienic conditions and increased rural-urban migration.

Ans.

Long Answer Questions: Q.1

India has highly uneven patterns of population distribution. Justify this statement with four facts. Ans. India has a highly uneven pattern of population distribution. a. Uttar Pradesh has the highest total population followed by Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. b. Top 10 states together have about 76 per cent of the total India’s population. c. On the other hand, population is very small in the states like Jammu & Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal even though they are large states. d. Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Peninsular States have moderate to high proportion of population. Q.2 Ans.

Explain with examples the factors which determines the pattern of the population distribution in India. Uneven distribution of population in India suggests a close relationship between population and physical, socioeconomic and historical factors. a. Physical factors such as Climate, Terrain and Availability of water influenced and determined the pattern of the population distribution. i. Example 1: the North Indian Plains, deltas and Coastal Plains have higher proportion of population because they have climate suitable for agriculture and fertile plains. ii. Example 2: Mountainous and forested regions of southern and central Indian States, Himalayan states, and some of the northeastern states are less populated.

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iii. Example 3: Development of irrigation (Rajasthan), availability

b.

c.

of mineral and energy resources (Jharkhand) and development of transport network (Peninsular States) have resulted in moderate to high proportion of population. Socio-economic and historical factors also influence and determine the distribution of population of India. i. Example 1: Traditional settled agriculture and early human settlement has resulted in large population in the river plains and coastal areas of India. ii. Example 2: Development of transport and better agricultural development has resulted in large population in North Plains. The industrialization and urbanization also influenced the distribution of population. i. Example 1: The urban regions of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, etc. have high concentration of population due to industrial development and urbanization. A large numbers of rural-urban migrants come to these towns.

DENSITY OF POPULATION Q.3 Ans.

Describe the spatial variations of population densities in our country.

a. Density of population ranges from as low as 13 persons per sq km in Arunachal Pradesh to 9,340 persons in the National Capital Territory of Delhi. b. Among the northern Indian States, West Bengal (903), Bihar (880) and Uttar Pradesh (690) have higher densities, while Kerala (819) and Tamil Nadu (480) have higher densities among the peninsular Indian states. c. States like Assam, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand, and Orissa have moderate densities. d. The hill states of the Himalayan region and North eastern states of India (excluding Assam) have relatively low densities e. The Union Territories (excluding Andaman and Nicobar islands) have very high densities of population. GROWTH OF POPULATION Q.4 Ans.

Explain four distinct phases of growth of India’s population. There are four distinct phases of growth identified: Phase I: a. The period from 1901-1921 is referred to as a period of stagnant or stationary phase of growth of India’s population b. In this period growth rate was very low, even recording a negative growth rate during 1911-1921. c. Both the birth rate and death rate were high keeping the rate of increase low.

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d. Poor health and medical services, illiteracy of people at large and inefficient distribution system of food and other basic necessities were largely responsible for a high birth and death rates in this period. Phase II: a. The decades 1921-1951 are referred to as the period of steady population growth. b. An overall improvement in health and sanitation throughout the country brought down the mortality rate. c. At the same time better transport and communication system improved distribution system. d. The crude birth rate remained high in this period leading to higher growth rate than the previous phase. Phase III: a. The decades 1951-1981 are referred to as the period of population explosion in India, b. It was caused by a rapid fall in the death rate but a high birth rate. c. The average annual growth rate was as high as 2.2 per cent. d. High birth rate was due to developmental activities and growing economy which improved living condition of people. e. Beside it, due to increased international immigration from Tibet, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan growth rate was high. Phase IV: a. After 1981 till present, the growth rate has started slowing down gradually. b. It is due to decline in crude birth rate. c. It is also due to an increase in the mean age at marriage, improved quality of life particularly education of females in the country. REGIONAL VARIATION IN POPULATION GROWTH Q.5

Describe the wide regional variation in growth rates of population from one state to another in India.

Ans.

a. The Southern States like Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Pondicherry, and Goa show a low rate of growth (less than 20%).

b. Kerala registered the lowest growth rate (9.4) in India. c. A continuous belt of states from west to east in the north and central d. e. Q.6 Ans.

parts of the country has relatively high growth rate than the southern states. Growth rate is high in the Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh. Growth rate is also high in the Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Sikkim, Assam, West Bengal, and Bihar.

Describe the features of the National Youth Policy for the overall development of our large youth and adolescent population. The National Youth Policy of Government of India was launched in 2003. a. It stresses on an all round improvement of the youth and adolescents.

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b. It enables them to shoulder responsibility towards constructive c. d. e. f.

development of the country. It also aims at reinforcing the qualities of patriotism and responsible citizenship. The thrust of this policy is youth empowerment in terms of their effective participation in decision making and carrying the responsibility of an able leader. Special emphasis was given in empowering women and girl child to bring parity in the male-female status. Moreover, deliberate efforts were made to look into youth health, sports and recreation, creativity and awareness about new innovations in the spheres of science and technology.

Rural – Urban Composition Q.7 Ans.

Describe the uneven distribution of rural population in India.

a. The states like Bihar and Sikkim have very high percentage of rural

Q.8 Ans.

population. b. Whereas the states of Goa and Maharashtra have low per cent of rural population. c. The Union Territories have smaller proportion of rural population. d. Dadra and Nagar Haveli have high proportion of rural population (77.1 per cent). e. In the hilly states, Western Rajasthan and Rann of Kuchchh in Gujarat the size of villages is less than 200 persons. f. In the states of Kerala and Maharashtra the size of villages is 17 thousand persons. g. These variations at intra-State and inter-State levels are due to variations in degree of urbanization and extent of rural-urban migration. Describe the uneven distribution of urban population in India. The distribution of urban population has a wide variation throughout the country. a. The degree of urbanization is high in regions which are well connected with the main road and rail links such as the North Indian Plains. b. The industrial areas around Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai etc have high rural-urban migration therefore these cities have large urban population. c. In the agriculturally stagnant parts of the middle and lower Ganga Plains urban population is low. d. Non-irrigated Western Rajasthan and remote hilly tribal areas of northeast also have low urban population. e. The flood prone areas of peninsular states have low urban population. f. In Eastern part of Madhya Pradesh the degree of urbanization is low.

Linguistic Composition

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Q.9 Ans.

Q.10 Ans.

Name the four language families in India. Which one of them is spoken by the largest number of people in the country? Name any four states in which this language is mainly spoken. The four language families are a. Austric (Nishada) b. Dravidian (Dravida) c. Sino-Tibetan (Kirata) d. Indo –European (Aryan) Among the four families Indo-European (Aryan) are spoken largest in India. Four states in which this language is spoken are a) Jammu & Kashmir, b) Punjab, c) Himachal Pradesh, d) U.P., e) Rajasthan, f) Haryana. Name any four schedule languages in India. Which one of them is spoken by the largest number of people in the country? Name any four states in which this language is mainly spoken. The four scheduled languages are: a. Hindi b. Punjabi c. Tamil d. Telgu Among the scheduled languages, the Hindi language is spoken largest in India. The smallest language groups are Kashmiri and Sanskrit. a) Uttar Pradesh, b) Haryana, c) Bihar, d) Rajasthan.

Religious Composition Q.11 Describe the religious composition of the population of India. Ans. a. Hindus i. Hindus are dominant in many states such as Haryana, HP, UP. ii. They are less in the states along Sikkim, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, and Mizoram. b. Muslims, i. Muslims are the largest religious minority in India. ii. They are in majority in Jammu & Kashmir, some districts of West Bengal and Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, in and around Delhi and in Lakshadweep. c. Christian i. They are distributed mostly in rural areas of the country. ii. The main concentration is in the Western coast around Goa, Kerala and also in the hill states of Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Hills of Manipur. d. Sikhs i. They are mostly concentrated in relatively small area of the country, particularly in the states of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi. e. Jains and Buddhists i. Jains are the smallest religious groups in India. ii. They are concentrated only in the urban areas of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

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iii. Buddhists are concentrated mostly in Maharashtra. The other f.

areas of Buddhist majority are Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, and Ladakh. The other religions of India include Zoroastrians, tribal and other indigenous faiths and beliefs. These groups are concentrated in small pockets scattered throughout the country.

Composition of Working Population Q.12 Ans.

Name three groups of population of India classified according to their economic status. The population of India according to their economic status is divided into three groups, namely; 1. Main workers, (who works for at least 183 days in a year) 2. Marginal workers (who works for less than 183 days in a year) 3. Non-workers. (who is not engaged in any productive work) In India, the proportion of workers (both main and marginal) is only 39 per cent and a vast majority of 61 per cent is non-workers. This indicates that there is a larger proportion of dependent population, and large number of unemployed or under employed people in India.

Q.13 Ans.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Q.14 Ans.

a. b. c.

Describe the variations in the proportion of working population in India. The work participation rate varies from state to state. Goa has low proportion of working population whereas Mizoram has large proportion of working population. The states with larger percentages of workers are Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Meghalaya. Among the Union Territories, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu have higher participation rate. The work participation rate is higher in the areas of lower levels of economic development It is because large numbers of manual workers are needed to perform the subsistence or near subsistence economic activities. Describe the occupational composition of India’s population. The occupational composition of India’s population shows a large proportion of primary sector workers compared to secondary and tertiary sectors. About 58.2 per cent of total working population is cultivators and agricultural labourers. Only 4.2% of workers are engaged in household industries. 37.6 % are engaged in trade and commerce, construction and repair etc. Male workers out-number female workers in all sectors. The number of female workers is relatively high in primary sector. The proportion of workers in agricultural sector has decreased from 66.85% in 1991 to 58.2% in 2001. Thus it has increased in secondary and tertiary sectors.

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Q.15 Ans.

d. e. f. g.

Describe the variations of work participation rate in the different sectors of India’s economy. The work participation rate varies from region to region. The states like Himachal Pradesh and Nagaland have very large shares of cultivators. On the other hand states like Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh have higher proportion of agricultural labourers. The highly urbanised areas like Delhi, Chandigarh and Pondicherry have a very large proportion of workers being engaged in other services. This indicates not only availability of limited farming land, but also large scale urbanisation and industrialisation requiring more workers in non-farm sectors.

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